New Year's Resolution
"You must be the change you wish to see in the world".- Gandhi
New Year's Day. It's a good time for stock-taking, for self-appraisal. With each change one makes in oneself, one see more changes yet to be made. of PITT artists' pens.
I am still trying to figure out how exactly this will work but I was thinking how cool it would be
Not to self-flagellate but in the spirit of creative expansion. To be alive is to grow and adapt and to spend one's days awake and aware.
In 2005, I took on several new creative challenges.
We completed The Creative License, my largest design, illustration and writing project. We launched the new advertising campaign for Chase: a dozen or more commercials and a hundred or so ads. This website was relaunched, thanks to my friends Tricia and Jacob. I made a lot of new friends and connections through the Everyday Matters group and developed the social aspects of my art making. And I discovered Rome, deeply immersing myself in a city and its art I'd never known well before.
At home, Patti and I got to spend more and better time together, deepening our love as it enters its twentieth year. My relationship with Jack changed a lot this year too and I am prouder than ever of him as he took on the challenges of entering a new school and a new community.
I'm pretty happy with much of what happened this year. But I have a new and different plan for 2006.
While it has been really rewarding letting drawing and journaling transform my life, I feel a deeper and stronger need to do more. I don't just want to sell books and checking accounts. I want to promote awareness. In the coming year, I want to see how to use art to make a difference for others. Not just to unleash their own creativity but to create a new awareness of the world and to forge a community that can make it a better place. I want to try to help people rediscover their love of drawing and then bring them together to help others. To raise awareness, to raise funds, to help make the world a more beautiful place. I began drawing because of a trauma. When Patti had her accident, drawing helped me to gain a fresh perspective, the strength and vision to persevere and also to improve. I have not done enough to spread that power to others. I think that drawing and journaling could help people with spinal cord injuries and other disabilities, with life threatening illnesses, with addiction and depression. I would like to talk to health care professionals to see how I can share what I have experienced. I know that a lot of people in the Everyday Matters community have used their art to cope with physical limitations, with mental and spiritual challenges, and I would like to find a way to share those experiences and use them to help mobilize something. I would also like to reach out to people who help others to learn -- librarians and teachers -- and see how we can encourage creativity, drawing and journaling among their students too, to help develop what could be a life long creative habit. I would also like to use communal drawing experiences like Sketchcrawls in a new way. As we raise awareness by drawing together, I would like to focus the community to help others. I think that group drawing can be a valuable fund raising tool to help people in need. Just as walkathons and marathons raise money through individual pledges, I think we can use drawing as a way to motivate people to give. For now, Patti and I have been calling it "Drawn Together" (though I think there's a cartoon show by that name).
We are going to put together a drawing outing at the Rubin Museum of Art, the only museum devoted to Himalayan Art. On Friday evening, February 3rd, any one who wants to can join us and draw some of the amazing treasures there. We'll get to socialize, share our journals and our love of drawing. But this time we will have a cause too.
As I'm sure you know, the people of Northern Pakistan and Kashmir, people of the Himalayan region, have been devastated by the recent earthquake and now with the onset of winter are in terrible peril. We can make a difference by raising money to buy them blankets. A dollar will buy a blanket that could provide much-needed comfort and protection. Five dollars will provide all a family needs to weather the bitter winter. Five bucks. The price of a couple if people could arrange sponsors who would pledge to give say, a dollar for each drawing their sponsored draw-er did on the sketchcrawl. Do ten drawings and ten people get blankets. I think I may also be able to get the museum to pledge our admission prices to the fund too.
At the end of the day, we will have a wonderful experience: we'll see great art, we'll make our own art, we'll hang out with other like-minded people, and we'll help folks in real need. Maybe it would be possible to set up a parallel effort in other cities. The LA County Museum of Art has a South Asian art collection. So does the Art Institute of Chicago. Or maybe people could just gather at an Indian restaurant and share lunch and draw. Or order in some curry and sit at home and draw from photos from a digital collection like this one.
I am not by nature a particularly generous or philanthropic person. I am just a New York ad guy, let's face it. But somehow, after Katrina and Iraq and Pakistan and Karl Rove and all that has happened this past year, I am feeling this need to do something bigger than my little selfish life well up inside me. I expect that I won't be particularly good at it at first and that my ego and my usual tendencies will muddy the waters, but it feels like a resolution I can stick with longer than a low carb diet or a gym regime or a pledge to stop biting my nails. We'll see.
Stay tuned.
Comments
Danny...
Good for you! What a great idea...I think that drawing (as well as music and other creative endeavors) can bring people together for good causes and raise awareness. "One dollar for one blanket" is proof that individuals CAN make a difference in the world.
Posted by: Paul V | December 31, 2005 06:30 PM
FYI - you already are making a difference in my classroom. I've been "showing & telling" your work to my students and now that I have your new book I can't wait to take it to school next semester.
Happy New Year!
~Sharon
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December 31, 2005 06:34 PM
Hi Danny & Patti --
Fantastic idea! It's a win win plan. Let me know how to help, I'm here in your hood. Happy 2006. Julia J.
Posted by: julia | December 31, 2005 08:42 PM
Love the idea. I am new to the site so I don't know who is in LA yet. I would love to be involved in a simliar endeavor here.
Roxy Raile
EDM Member
Posted by: Roxy Raile | December 31, 2005 09:20 PM
Danny: As a trained ethnobotanist I can't agree more. When hurricane Hugo swept thru Charleston, SC, I returned to that city and met with children who wrote (and illustrated) stories about the loss of their beloved trees. Writing, journaling, sketching all help in the healing process - it is acknowledgement concretized. Your desire is well-founded and has merit. Count me in ...
Posted by: Lin | January 1, 2006 07:40 AM
Danny -- what a great idea! I wonder if there's a way to expand this to other cities, or even come up with a "virtual sketch crawl" that some of us loners in remote areas could do? If you guys end up doing a fund raiser for blankets, be sure to put some kind of pledge form up on your site -- I may not be able to be there to draw, but I've got a few extra dollars that could be spared for a good cause!
And thanks for stopping by and for the point on your site -- you made my new year start off in a really good way. All the best to you and yours.
Linda M in TN
Posted by: Linda | January 1, 2006 08:38 AM
Danny, what a wonderful idea!I have been wondering how to link art and community for awhile. I was waiting to see what would percolate. I would like to hear more information about this. As always, you come up with such great ideas!
Posted by: Lindsay | January 1, 2006 01:05 PM
Danny, As I sit hear with tears in my eyes just after I read yournew Letter from you I so agree with this drawing thought. Ive been injuried since 87,shoulder which has gotten to the point that I have hardly any shoulder left. With fibermyalgia and bad disc, and taking care of an ill Parent, an now the loss of her. And after that loss and knowing I'm the only one left hear in this messed up world my journaling and drawing has gotten me through many rough spots in my life hear. Art blogs like your is a blessing to me like another family so when I'm in pain at 3 or 3 in the morning I always know I have your site and many others my art book which I sleep with(LOL) to get me through. So your colum was eally mean full to me. Art would make this Place a much more LOVING place if people would look and draw what they see. Then they would look back and know just what they have.
Your friend from Pittsburgh,
Linda
Posted by: Linda | January 1, 2006 03:49 PM
Your passion is contagious. It's fun to draw. Even better if it'll help keep people warm.
Posted by: Stephanie | January 1, 2006 10:18 PM
Excellent site! Great motivation! An idea for raising money would be to auction off the drawings from a sketch crawl or a personal inventory. A site can be set up through a free blog hosting site and the bidding can be done through the comment section of the site. A site by the name of toycamera.com did this for the people of Katrina and I believe it was successful. I was able to get an amazing photo through this endeavor and help a little bit at the same time. Thanks for keeping this site.
Chris
Posted by: Chris Fanter | January 2, 2006 01:27 AM
Great idea! I'd love to be part of this. I could help put together a group in the Boston/Providence area.
Fred
Posted by: Fred | January 2, 2006 04:26 PM
Dangit. I couldn't go to the December one and I won't be able to go to the February one because I'll be house/baby-sitting for someone in Princeton.
I hope it all goes well, and that I'll be able to help you in your goal of art in aid to change the world for future sketchcrawls throughout the year.
Happy New Year. :)
Posted by: JennySmith | January 2, 2006 07:36 PM
There's an Everyday Matters group dedicated to Chicago, so I'm sure we can organize something here.
I have to say, I don't think you'll have a difficult time achieving your resolution. I myself am disabled and felt worthless for awhile. But after I started drawing and jotting down notes about the world around me (and not wallowing in angst-filled self-centered journal entries), things really opened up for me. Just because I can't go out much doesn't mean I can't share my art with others and feel a sense of worth.
There are several groups and organizations you could contact to jump-start what you're thinking to do. If you need any help, I'm sure I'm not the only one here to give it.
Posted by: Kira | January 2, 2006 08:29 PM
Wow man...INCREDIBLE sketch!!! Happy new year!
Posted by: G-Man | January 2, 2006 10:50 PM
hi danny and patti (and all!)
i think this expansion social cause sketchcrawl sounds wonderful. i'll put it on my calendar! sorry i couldn't make it to the december one!
*crissy
Posted by: crissy | January 3, 2006 09:09 AM
Hi Danny--The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art in Kansas City, Missouri, has one of the finest collections of Asian art in the world, too--it's a wonderful place to sketch, as students from the KC Art Institute, across the street, often discover!
Wonder if there are other EDM artists in this area?
Posted by: Kate (Cathy) Johnson | January 3, 2006 09:24 AM
Happy New Year to you and yours, Master Gregory.
I enjoyed, supremely, your resolutions and your firm resolve and hope as to where your art can take you and others into the future. It was very empowering ... so much so, in fact, that I may rip it out and glue it in my collage journal. I've recently started a new one for the new year, and the first page is blank since I hadn't figured out how to put in words and torn paper yet what I expected from myself (beyond myself) this (these) coming year(s).
I've recently enrolled in school, nontraditional age student, on a return mission, this time majoring in creative arts with a foreign language minor and the hope to "teach" at some point, give back, empower, etc.
Your words, regarding the new year, and the future beyond that, what a person can give back, how the creative arts can be a part of that, was music to my ears.
At this point, I had merely been hearing voices, or my one meek voice saying, "Gee, I hope this works out, because I think I have something to give back, that will keep on giving and empowering."
More power and joy and light to you and yours this coming year.
Look forward to reading more, as per usual.
Regards,
Anne Cunningham
Posted by: anne cunningham | January 3, 2006 10:39 AM
Happy New Year! The February 3 drawing event at the Rubin and the pledges are a great idea! I'll be there! Got the new book on Friday and stayed up half the night to read it. It's GREAT!!! Can't wait to reread. Reread Everyday Matters yesterday.
Posted by: Susan McCreight | January 3, 2006 12:28 PM
Great idea.... really makes me think too. I often feel that I ahve so much and others have so little and I do very little to really help... a great way to use our gifts I think. I'd like to try something similar here... so I shall see what happens with yours...
I love your site, and your ideas have really motivated me.
Thank you.
MD
Posted by: Marie-Dom | January 3, 2006 05:33 PM
Danny, your Sketch Relief idea is a grand one, very commendable. This is the sort of idea that for me resonates. Regarding your discussion of the healing properties of sketching, I imagine you've heard of the field of study and practice known as Art Therapy. It's a field that seems to me to speak to many of the issues and populations you've above discussed. Here's the address for the AATA site, for those that're interested: http://www.arttherapy.org/aafaq.html
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January 16, 2006 04:59 PM
Unfortunately, I can't make it even though I live across the river, in New Jersey. I'll be on my way to North Carolina and Georgia... I'm sending it out to friends and hope some will attend though. I am so interested in your new plans and ideas for 2006! I will definitely keep checking out your site to see what amazing things you're doing. By the way, just purchased your new book and I'm digging it very much. Can't wait to just curl up with it for a few hours! Thank you for the inspiration and keep inspiring!
Posted by: Kyra | February 1, 2006 02:32 PM
This is beautiful. But I'm in Colorado. Let's say I want to do this... or even say I want to send some $ to buy blankets, etc...
Can you give those of us who can help the contact information for those who are supplying the needy with the blankets, etc...
I would be just as happy to send you money, Danny, to roll into whatever you raise, if that works too.
Peace.
Mark
Posted by: Mark | February 3, 2006 11:46 PM